--- title: Scarlett Johansson in Lucy: The Future of the Female Action Star description: Scar Jo's unlikely road from the other woman to superhero canonical: https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-25T20:07:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:43.359Z og:title: Scarlett Johansson in Lucy: The Future of the Female Action Star og:description: Scar Jo's unlikely road from the other woman to superhero og:url: https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc23efd073da70b21/69869d3aadae44f0dd5444bd/5703_tpt_00020r_crop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Film Title: Lucy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scarlett Johansson in Lucy: The Future of the Female Action Star twitter:description: Scar Jo's unlikely road from the other woman to superhero twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc23efd073da70b21/69869d3aadae44f0dd5444bd/5703_tpt_00020r_crop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scarlett Johansson, _Lucy_ and the Future of the Female Action Star  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 25, 2014 8:07 PM UTC  Writer/director Luc Besson directs SCARLETT JOHANSSON in ?Lucy?, an action-thriller that examines the possibility of what one human could truly do if she unlocked 100 percent of her brain capacity and accessed the furthest reaches of her mind. Writer/director Luc Besson directs SCARLETT JOHANSSON in ?Lucy?, an action-thriller that examines the possibility of what one human could truly do if she unlocked 100 percent of her brain capacity and accessed the furthest reaches of her mind.Universal Pictures  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 25, 2014 8:07 PM UTC This weekend’s _Lucy_—the action thriller starring Scarlett Johansson as a woman who has 10 times the brain capacity of other humans—may just turn out to be a hit. The film scored $2.7 million at the Thursday box office, beating out _Hercules_, which stars a traditionally macho hero, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. If the box office numbers continue to soar, Johansson will join the small pantheon of women who can carry an action film that isn’t based on a comic book or a young adult novel. There are very few actresses who can accomplish that feat. Remember, we’re not counting Jennifer Lawrence (_The Hunger Games_ is based on the uber-popular YA series), Kate Beckinsale (the _Underworld_ series was based on a comic), anyone who shared the screen with an equally formidable male action hero (Linda Hamilton in _Terminator 2_) or who starred in an action film that bombed (Jennifer Garner in _Elektra_)_._ Who’s left? Angelina Jolie is probably the most well-known: she took top billing in _Tomb Raider_, _Salt_ and _Wanted_ (to varying degrees of success). Uma Thurman kicked ass in both _Kill Bill_ movies. And Sigourney Weaver was a terrific warrior in _Alien_. That’s about it. And none of those women starred in a tentpole superhero film. In fact, films focused on superheroines have historically crashed and burned (see: Halle Berry in _Catwoman_). But being able to carry an action film with no built-in fan base means that the people at Disney may finally feel comfortable with giving Johansson her own Black Widow film, where she plays the star, not the sidekick to Robert Downey Jr. as she does in _The Avengers_. But there’s a hitch. _Lucy_ isn’t really an action movie. It’s more a meditation on pseudo-science: action scenes are intercut with clips of animals from nature documentaries and shots of stars swirling through space. Lucy never shoots or kicks when she can just sweep bad guys out of the way with the flick of her hand. Her Marvel movies have certainly proven that she has the physicality necessary for a superhero film. But does she want her own franchise? Her resume suggests perhaps not. Johansson has taken a strange trajectory to this spot. Her breakout roles had her playing the other woman or the unfaithful woman (even if the cheating is simply emotional): _Lost In Translation_, _Girl with a Pearl Earring_, _Match Point_, _The Other Boleyn Girl_, _Vicky Cristina Barcelona_ and _He’s Just Not That Into You_ all place Johansson in some sort of love triangle or cheating scandal. Why she was cast in these roles is obvious: Johansson is a classically beautiful, voluptuous blonde. Men in the audience knew she was fatally attractive, and women—based on the number of times I’ve heard female friends declare their hatred for her—were repulsed by her undeniable sex appeal. Even as she’s moved away from the role of the hapless young woman, she’s capitalized on her dangerous beauty: her superhero character, _Black Widow_, is named after a spider that traps and then kills its prey; in _Don Jon_ she played the only woman who could tame a man obsessed with porn; in _Under Her Skin_ she’s an alien that eats men; and even though she never appears in _Her_, her disembodied voice is so sultry that it’s no wonder Joaquin Phoenix falls head over heels for his computer. You may notice that these more recent films increasingly capitalize on Johansson’s intelligence and not just her body: she’s played and tricky alien, a computer, and now in _Lucy,_ the smartest woman in the world. So while the success of _Lucy_ may mean that Johansson can helm a _Black Widow_ movie, taking such a simplistic roles could feel a step down for Johansson. She’s made a point throughout her career to choose pretty complex roles, working with directors like Woody Allen and Christopher Nolan and opting for lower-budget projects like _Don Jon_ and _Under Her Skin_, when she could turn on her charm and have an easy road to rom-con stardom. Why go from playing hyper-smart women in artier films to reciting cliche dialogue in a superhero flick? But the way actors afford to take “challenging” roles like Samantha in _Her_ is by suiting up for things like _The Avengers_. So I suspect it will only be a few more years before we see Scarlett Johansson heads up her own Marvel franchise. Hopefully more women will follow. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/"},"headline":"Scarlett Johansson, Lucy and the Future of the Female Action Star","datePublished":"2014-07-25T20:07:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:43.359Z","description":"Scar Jo's unlikely road from the other woman to superhero","url":"https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/","keywords":["Living","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc23efd073da70b21/69869d3aadae44f0dd5444bd/5703_tpt_00020r_crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc23efd073da70b21/69869d3aadae44f0dd5444bd/5703_tpt_00020r_crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Film Title: Lucy","caption":"Film Title: Lucy","creditText":"Universal Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3034230/scarlett-johansson-lucy-and-the-future-of-the-female-action-star/","name":"Scarlett Johansson, Lucy and the Future of the Female Action Star"}}]}] ```